SUMMARY

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” tells the story of Pelayo and his wife Elisenda, who kill crabs in a rainstorm and one day find an old man with enormous wings in their courtyard.

Pelayo, a poor fisherman, comes across an elderly man in his courtyard who is homeless, lost, and has enormous wings. The old man speaks in a language that is foreign to him. He and his wife therefore speak with him in vain. After consulting a neighbor, Pelayo and his wife Elisenda conclude that the elderly man must be an angel who attempted to transport their ill child to heaven. Pelayo is instructed to kill the angel with a club by the neighboring woman. Their child's fever breaks out in the middle of the night after they lock the angel up in the chicken coop. Pelayo and Elisenda, on the other hand, are sorry for their visitor.

Father Gonzaga, the local priest, tells the people that the old man is probably a fake angel because he doesn't speak Latin and is dirty. Father Gonzaga decides to consult his bishop for guidance. He says he will find out the truth from higher-ups in the church. The courtyard quickly takes on the appearance of a market as word of the angel spree like wildfire. After that, Elisenda comes up with the brilliant idea of charging five cents for the angel's visit. They quickly accumulate wealth. Even when the crowd pulls his feathers and throws stones at him to get him to stand, the elderly man mostly ignores them. At the point when the guests singe him with a marking iron to decide whether he's as yet alive, he ends up being furious. Father Gonzaga works tirelessly to keep the crowd under control while Rome takes its time deciding whether the old man is an angel.

The crowd begins to disperse when a Spider-Girl-themed traveling freak show arrives in the village. She answers questions from spectators and describes how, one night, she was transformed into a tarantula for disrespecting her parents. The general public will find this more appealing than an elderly man with wings who does not pay attention to those around him. Pelayo's courtyard is left empty as a result of the curious crowd's immediate preference for the spider over the angel. People quickly forget about the old man, who had only performed a few meaningless semi-miracles for his pilgrims, because the sad tale of the spider woman is so well known.

Despite this, Elisenda has made Pelayo and Elisenda a lot of money by charging admission fees. Pelayo quits his job and starts building a bigger new house. As the little kid becomes older, the old man stays with them for a considerable length of time, living in the chicken coop.

They keep their child away from the chicken coop and ignore the angel. They begin to accept him as soon as he integrates into their lives. He receives frequent visits from the child. The elderly man enters the adjacent shed when the chicken coop falls, but he frequently wanders through the house, causing Elisenda annoyance.

They believe he will pass away as he gets sicker and weaker. But he gets better quickly. He starts singing sea chanteys, or songs of sailors, to himself at night as his feathers regrow. Elisenda is relieved to see the elderly man disappear as she watches as his spree his wings and takes off into the air.

In conclusion, the old man appears in the backyard of a family on a stormy night as his eponymous (erroneously titled) persona. Additionally, it demonstrates the combination of reality and illusion—a narrative that appears to be real while also incorporating elements of imagination.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW.

a. In the story's exposition, how does the narrator describe the weather and its effects?

In the story's exposition, Pelayo was dumping the crabs inside his house into the water after it had rained for three days. The beach's sands, which had glowed like powdered light on March nights, had turned into a stew of mud and decaying shellfish, and the sky and sea had become one ash-grey entity.

b. Describe the odd elderly man Palayo and his wife first meet in their courtyard.

The unusual elderly man was dressed as a rag picker—a person who collects and sells rags—when Pelayo and his wife Elisenda found him in their courtyard. His large buzzard wings were filthy and half-plucked, entangled in the mud, and he was in the terrible state of a drenched great-grandfather, with only a few faded hairs remaining on his bald head.

c. For what reason did Pelayo and Elisenda lock the elderly man up in the chicken coop?

After discovering that the old man was an angel who had come with a plan to steal their child, Pelayo and Elisenda locked the man up in the chicken coop.

d. Why did Father Gonzaga doubt that the old man was a messenger from the heavens?

Because the old man didn't even know how to greet his ministers or speak God's language, Father Gonzaga was unsure if the man was a celestial messenger.

e. A large number of people congregated at Palayo's house to observe the odd old man.Why, in your opinion, did the crowd gather to see him?

To see the strange old man, a lot of people congregated at Pelayo's house. I think the people who found him inside the chicken coop wanted to see him and have fun with him as a circus animal.

f. While the crowd waits to see the strange man, a few miracles took place. What miracles are these?

While the crowd gathers to see the strange man, a few miracles took place. These are the miracles:

The blind man who lost his sight but gained three new teeth, the paralyzed person who was unable to walk but nearly won the lottery, and the leper whose wounds produced sunflowers are all examples of this.

g. Describe the annoyances caused by the people's interactions with the odd old man.

The strange old man's inability to impress the crowd began to irritate him. To get him to stand, they threw stones at him and pulled his feathers. They burned him and poked him with a branding iron. At first, the elderly man did not respond to them, but eventually, as the pain became unbearable, he became aggressive.

h. In what way and for what reason did the woman become a spider?

The woman was transformed into a spider by the lightning bolt of brimstone that broke through the tow of the terrifying thunderclap in the sky because she had sneaked out of her parents' house without their permission to dance.

i. Describe Elisenda's vision of the odd man flying over the houses.

When Elisenda sensed a wind coming in from the high seas while she was cutting onions for lunch, she ran to the window and saw an angel trying to fly for the first time. Despite the risky flapping of an elderly vulture, he miraculously maintained his balance and made it through the last few houses. She kept gazing at him until she could no longer see him.

REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

a. When a strange old man shows up in Palayo's courtyard, there are a lot of questions and theories. Describe the manner in which the neighbor's woman, Father Gonzaga, and the doctor refer to the odd man. Why do you believe these three individuals offer three distinct interpretations?

The appearance of a weird elderly person at Pelayo's courtyard stirs numerous doubts and clarifications .According to the neighbor woman, who knew everything there was to know about life and death, he was an angel who must have come for the child, but because he was old, he fell into the rain. Father Gonzaga, the parish priest, had doubts about the old angel because he was unable to comprehend God's language or perceive his ministers. He advised others not to be inventive to avoid the dangers of being curious because his frail feathers smelled of the outdoors. The doctor heard a whistling sound in his heart and kidneys, which showed that he couldn't be alive. When he saw his natural wings, he was shocked and wondered why no one else had them.

Father Gonzaga, the neighbor woman, and the doctor all give different descriptions of the strange old man. Because the strange old man's appearance and actions were so dissimilar to those of the real world, I believe these three people offered three distinct explanations for him. His language was also hard to understand, and he had wings.

b. This story falls under the category of "magical realism," which Gabriel Garcia Marquez perfected in his novels and short stories. A narrative technique known as magical realism is one in which the storyteller paints ordinary events with a magical hue, making them appear simultaneously magical and real. Argue for why you think the story's five magic-realist events are magical.

The old man in the story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is portrayed as a magical character or a mythical being. The following is a list of the story's five magic realist events:

• After disposing of the crabs, Pelayo was on his way back to the house when he noticed an elderly man lying face down in the mud, hindered by his enormous wings. The fact that humans do not have wings in the real world makes it magical.

• The old strange man replied to Pelayo and his wife in a foreign language with a strong sailor's voice, implying that he was from another world.

• The neighbor woman claims that the elderly man is an angel who has arrived to transport the ill child to heaven. "Heavenly messenger" itself alludes to an otherworldly connection in the story.

• Father Gonzaga warned others about the strange old man and compared him to the devil. Both the capture of the elderly man and Father Gonzaga's description are amazing and magical.

• The woman's transformation into a spider as a result of the brimstone lightning bolt, the doctor's prediction about the strange old man and his observation of a whistling sound in the old man's heart and kidneys, the old man's antiquarian eyes, his first flight attempt, and his passing over the last houses, among many other things, are not typical of what happens in the real world. Consequently, the story belongs to the "Magical Realism" genre.

c. The story of a woman who became a spider because she disobeyed her parents is introduced by the author. People's attention immediately shifts from the strange old man to the spider woman during this episode. Why, in your opinion, did the author bring about this change in the narrative?

I believe the author intended to show a magical connection between two distinct events by introducing this change in the narrative. The author wants to tie the story to the magical realism world by depicting something strange or amazing happening in the world because the story has elements of magical realism.

There is a sense of "magic realism" surrounding the strange old man. He shows how blind people are to beauty and mercy. He resembles Christ in some way. The Bug young lady is a person in a voyaging festival show that visits the town. It just so happens that the main draw is a spider-girl. The locals are stunned. In contrast to the shy angel, who shied away from attention, she entertains the audience and watching her is much less expensive. The general public will find this to be more appealing than an elderly man with wings who looks down on those around him. The curious masses quickly choose the spider over the angel, leaving Palayo's courtyard empty. The audience also enjoyed the morality tale of the spider girl's parents' disrespect and God's transformation into a spider. The angel is almost completely lost on the crowd. It also argues that entertaining and interesting activities are preferred to serious ones.

d. The story manages the ordinary citizens' gullibility. How do Pelayo and his wife profit from the whims of the common people?

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a brief story about the gullibility of everyday people. Pelayo and his wife Elisenda come across an elderly man with wings in their courtyard and attempt to speak with him without success. After that, they call the woman who lives next to them, and she informs them that the elderly man is an angel and that it was on its way to pick up their sick child. Their child's fever subsides in the middle of the night after they put the angel in the chicken coop. When they return to the courtyard at dawn, the entire community has gathered to observe the angel's appearance, despite their decision to let him go. Soon after, Father Gonzaga appears and declares that the elderly man is a hoax.

He says he will find out the truth from the highest courts of the church. The angel's story spread like wildfire, and the courtyard quickly takes on the look of a market. After that, Elisenda comes up with the brilliant plan to charge 5 cents for admission to the angel. They quickly accumulate wealth. Father Gonzaga works tirelessly to control the crowd while they await their verdict. Pelayo and his wife exploit the whims of the common people by charging visitors to see the elderly man in this manner.

REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT

a. An irresistible crowd waits in line for days at Palayo's house just to look at the strange old man. Describe an incident from your own life or a story where people gather in groups for no good reason.

It was 2065, I used to live in Battisputali, Kathmandu. I used to study Bachelors in Humanities and Social Sciences at Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus. I was on my way to college. I had to cross Dhobi Khola. On the way there is Seto Pul. I was walking as it was early morning and I preferred walking back then. There was a crowd of people looking down towards the dirty, smelling Dhobi Khola. I was curious and decided to get into the crowd to find what was going on there. I was getting late, I decided to ignore it and move on, but I could not and went near the crowd. I found a man who was looking down with other; around 26 people. I asked him, “Why are you looking down, what happened?” He replied, “I don’t know”. Immediately I asked another question, “Then why are you looking down?” He replied, “Because everybody else is looking down.” This made me smile a bit and I was also sad that I had wasted the precious 2 minutes of my life.

b. Children and adults have different tastes. What distinguishes "The Old Man with Enormous Wings" from other children's tales?

Children's preferences differ from those of adults.The following elements make "The Old Man with Enormous Wings" a story for children:

Characters:The old man is depicted as an angel with out-of-the-ordinary wings and the appearance of neither fully human nor surreal.

Conflict:Concerning the old man's character, the characters, such as the neighbor woman, Father Gonzaga, and the doctor, etc., engage in contention or conflict.

Fun times:The situation takes on a comedic turn when the crowd congregates in the yard to observe the elderly man and even pay the five cent admission fee to see the angel.

Setting:The story takes place in the rainy, muddy outside with chicken coops, the beach, the woods, the yard, and other locations.

Five percepts:The story uses some of the five senses, such as the sight of the crowd and the old man, the smell of his dirty body, and feelings of the various characters and crowd.

Structure and devices of the sentence:The story makes use of symbols and simple sentence structure.Wings: The elderly man is a Christ-like figure who comes to save people but is rejected and humiliated by them.Wings symbolize strength, speed, and unrestricted mobility.Angels are frequently depicted as beautiful winged figures in Christian art.

The Female Spidey:The erratic approach to faith that many self-centered individuals take is symbolized by the spider girl.

Things supernatural:The elderly man's wings, the woman's transformation into a spider, the belief in angels, etc.